Antique & Collectibles Sellers What do you think of this article?
What do you think?
https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/12-places-sell-antiques-collectibles-113000472.html
Article basically trashes ebay as a venue to sell antiques and collectibles. Some stuff valid, but glossed over some of the other sites shortcomings.
9 comments
tobaccocardyahoo
·5 months agoI have had items skunked by a 5 or more year old Worthpoint listing for my purchase of it on Ebay. It was rare, sold by a clueless seller, and I bought it on one bid.
I sold it offline for several times what I had paid on Ebay.
Some Ebay prices, high and low are products of stupidity, and the buyers who research them are part of the problem - for themselves and Ebay sellers. Any serious collector of items from this manufacturer would have known that I stole the item. I took it down before one found it because of unsolicited offers by multiple buyers of exactly the Worthpoint value.
m60driver
·5 months agoI saw that it was from AOL and then only briefly scanned the article before moving on with my day as it seemed to be just one more click bait article.
18704d
·5 months agoI find that author's impressions of eBay and antique booth selling to be very inaccurate.
"The Roseville pottery vase you listed on eBay sold for $165. You shipped it, paid the platform fee, and walked away with $130. The same piece sat in a dealer's booth down the street with a $310 price tag and sold in two weeks."
I've sold in many antique mall booths, and I've heard the experiences of dozens of other booth vendors. That Roseville pottery vase as an example, will more likely be looked up by a prospective buyer on eBay, they'll see it sold for $165.00 and they'll ask the antique mall owner if the booth vendor (me) will take $80.00 or less for it. Why? Because I've seen most antique mall customers are people sourcing for their own eBay sales. They want to buy it from you and sell it on eBay themselves for a guaranteed profit. And yes, these were nice upscale antique malls I'm referring to.
"A coin dealer has a customer who has been looking for a specific Morgan dollar date for eight months."
The rate of 'shrinkage' (theft) in antique malls can be horrendous. I know of a vendor who had someone pry lock off the back of their glass display case, allowing the theft of over 3 dozen 14 kt gold rings. And that is just one example.
Many antique malls maximize profit by having as many vendors as possible, dozens if not 100 or more booths. There is no way for them to protect each one. Another vendor I know had a glass display case selling silver dollars and other such coins. He came in one morning and found it totally empty. Over 100 thousand dollars of coins missing. The mall owners declared themselves "not responsible for thefts" and security cameras only showed empty aisle, with no way to zoom into the insides of each booth.
I'll take eBay over antique malls anyday. Opinions will vary. I regulary to to antique malls and source items for me to sell on eBay.
Thank you.
fabrics24
·5 months agoInteresting article! Not to be the brave, brave soul who takes the middle path, but there's stuff here worth looking at, and stuff I'm suspicious of.
Anything that doesn't have an authenticity policy worth talking about, especially when we're dealing in antiques and collectibles, is peculiar to me. Catawiki and Replacements Ltd seem to have clearly defined vetting processes for genuine items, but...Facebook groups? Mall booths?
A lot of these places are more or less the wild west, which might be great for the seller, but perhaps not for the buyer. Or maybe things go great for the seller until the buyer opens up a credit card dispute.
Like any business venture, these venues require some research.
simba6
·5 months agoSome of the high end auction houses charge sellers as much as 50%. I have seen the same items sitting in antique stores for years not selling.
trip98
OP5 months agoI haven't seen a buyers premium at 50%, usually 22-35 percent, but is has been creeping up. Also, many charge a cc process fee. (A few auctions allow ACH or Venmo purchase to avoid the process fee)
And shipping cost are always extremely high. I purchase some of my smalls at online auctions and one of my biggest costs to consider is the shipping. Usually, 5-10 times what I would charge to ship a 2pd, 8x8x8 box.
Also, many auction houses require cash payment under certain circumstances.
tobaccocardyahoo
·5 months agoWhat works for you is what works for you.
I have resold items from some of those sources on Ebay and made a profit.
The raw Ebay sales data rarely reflects market value of anything, and has not through Ebay's 30 year history.
Some sellers underprice and resell their products to other more patient sellers. Condition matters to collectors and condition is often not reflected appropriately in some listings.
There are sellers who are part of different price tiers who sell on Ebay. The higher priced sellers may have better listings, repeat buyers and more patience than the low tiered sellers. All sellers are not created equal.
pastimpressions
·5 months agowhat @tobaccocardyahoo said ^^^
stainlessenginecovers
·5 months agoI think the first line is stupidly obvious.
An 'impulse' buy vs. a 'shopper' that is online able to price compare in seconds is no comparison.
Same reason a similar condition 1968 Camaro sells for $35000 at the Pomona Fairgrounds, yet many listed for $55,000+ on websites.